“Silver Trembling Hands”

Women and the strange things that they do (battle robots) or don't do (use jelly) have been at the center of the Flaming Lips' most well loved creations. So go ahead and call "Silver Trembling Hands"-- from the group's forthcoming double LP, Embryonic-- a return to form, because the song's female protagonist is definitely up to something strange. "She puts diamonds on her forehead/ They remind her how the animals and trees and insects call," sings front man Wayne Coyne, laying out the details of some arcane pagan ritual.

But the song is also a return to form in a more profound sense for the band. In the past, whether they were smashing cymbals full of lighter fluid or pondering the sudden non-terrestrial demise of the postman, the Flaming Lips allure often hinged on a carefully tweaked paranoia-to-bliss ratio. "Silver Trembling Hands", seems to have this figured out. The song chugs along on a menacing Silver Apples-inspired groove, punctuated every so often by a shimmering yelp, only to make a sudden, but temporary, shift into quiet-storm territory. "She forgets about the fear/ When she's high," sings Coyne. After the dense, labored, and largely disappointing At War With the Mystics, "Silver Trembling Hands" suggests that the band may have gotten back into the basic process of balancing the weird with the sublime.